Happy and Grateful Birthday

Happy birthday to me.

On Saturday, my wife invited some friends and family over to celebrate the birthday of my two oldest kids and myself. We all three have December birthdays, so it can be tricky to coordinate with holidays and travelling. As the week leading up to my 31st birthday progressed, I had the same general feelings all week: gratefulness.

You see, I personally do not dread the idea of getting older. I see the value in gaining experience and wisdom, humbly acknowledging that I do not have it all figured out. I do not see 31 as old actually, often pointing out that Lebron James and Tom Brady continued to break records well past 30.

As the week moved on, I continued to simply well up with a joyous feeling of gratitude.

Grateful for Community

Two years ago, Abbee and I prayerfully made the decision to move to Maryland. We were pretty establsihed in South Carolina, but we sense this was the right move for our family. We prayed about everything: a house, community, growth, vision, provision. Challenges were ahead of us, and we did not have a lot of answers.

Here we are two years later sitting in a clear picture of so many answered prayers. On Saturday, we hosted a party in a house that we bought earlier this year, with renovations made possible by generous help from friends and family. And we spent time with people who have become our community, people who give us life.

And that prompted me to consider those who were not present, local here in Maryland, in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Japan, the Middle East. I am so grateful for the people in my life, who have made an impact on who I am today and who I am becoming.

At the party on Saturday, it was hard not to look around and see the blessing that was before me.

Grateful Looking in the Mirror

I have endured some seasons where the mirror was hard to look at, not just physically, but als metaphorically. There have been points in my life where I was not happy with who I was looking at in the mirror.

By no means am I perfect; I still have plenty to work on. But I am grateful to be in a season where I like what and who I see in the mirror. I am who I am, and I am okay with that.

In my darkest seasons, with hidden sins and intense self-awareness, I have felt fraudulent. Honestly, there are still days that I feel like a fraud. But in this season, I am confident that I am who I am. Recently, a friend reached out to me for an opinion concerning some business ethiics. He wanted my perspective on a gray area in an upcoming opportunity. With enough context to provide an opinion, I shared my thoughts. My friend’s response was so encouraging: he simply said he expected my response. He knew what he would get from me; I am who I am regardless of who is around.

Beyond my heart and character, I am grateful for my health and strength. I am at my best physical discipline in the last two years, feeling strong and healthy. I am motivated internally, by my own desire to be discipline, with very little motivation to prove myself to anyone.

All that to say, I am grateful for who I see in the mirror in this season.

The Challenge

It is easy to be grateful in seasons of blessing. The question I need to hold onto, and a question for you as well: how do you sustain a posture of gratitude when things are not good? How do you acknowledge blessings and answered prayers when they are harder to spot?

At some level, this blog post is a journal entry for future me. Gratitude is not my greatest skillset, but I want to put some notes down to encourage others and come back to myself on a later day. Here are some things that are true about gratitude; things I hold onto and will come back to.

Gratitude requires practice; it is like a muscle that must constantly be flexed and developed in order to be effective.

Gratitude is easy when things are good; gratitude is life-changing when things are bad.

Gratitude and thanksgiving go hand in hand with joy and contentment.

Gratitude cannot be fueled by the holidays; it can only be stirred.

If you have any truths about gratitude, I would love to hear them. I will save them for a later date. But for today, I will rest in a posture of gratefulness for the season I am currently in.